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Annual report
Purpose: To improve the enforcement of fines by identifying serious fines defaulters as they cross New Zealand borders, and to increase voluntary compliance through publicity about the programme targeted at travellers.
Justice disclosure to Customs: Justice provides serious fine defaulter information for inclusion on Customs' 'interception alerts' list.
Customs disclosure to Justice: For each alert triggered, Customs supplies the full name, date of birth, gender, nationality and presented passport number, along with details about the intended or just completed travel.
Compliance: Compliant.
Technical information
| Information matching provision | Customs and Excise Act 2018, s.310 |
| Year authorised | 2006 |
| Year commenced | 2006 |
| Programme type | Locating people |
| Unique identifiers | Personal profile number Passport number |
| Online transfers | Yes |
System description
Each day, Justice sends Customs, by encrypted online transfer, details of serious fines defaulters for the purpose of creating 'interception alerts' in the Customs system (CusMod). These 'interception alerts', which result in the traveller being intercepted at the airport and required to pay (or make an arrangement to pay) their fine or reparation or face arrest.
Fines defaulters who have interception alerts recorded in CusMod are those where:
For each fines defaulter, Justice supply Customs with the following information:
| Person profile number | Family name | Given names |
| Date of birth | Gender |
As an individual passes through the border, a Customs official scans their passport into the CusMod system. The CusMod matching programme converts details from the passport into an alpha-numeric code for matching against alerts. Alerts are generated for 'A' matches, which require a 91-100% match outcome based on a weighting system. For instance, date of birth and family name each has a percentage attributed to it which add up to 75% towards the overall weighting score.
Matches triggering an interception alert are directed to a Customs official who notifies NZ Police. A police officer conducts an interview with the individual to confirm their identity and that the individual is the same person as the alert, whether outstanding fines exist, and if a warrant to arrest remains in force.
Fines and warrant to arrest information is obtained by phoning the Justice Contact Centre. If the Police are satisfied that the individual is not the person on the alert, they are left to continue on their journey and a report is filed.
If the facts are verified, the individual, through a phone call with a Justice official, is given an opportunity to pay the outstanding amount or to enter into an arrangement to pay. If no payment is made, or arrangement entered into, the Police have discretion to execute the arrest warrant, in which case the individual will be stopped from travelling and brought before a court.
After an interception, the alert is usually removed from CusMod in the next daily update.
Customs/Justice Interception Alerts Results
Silent alerts were discontinued in 2016/17 because of the inefficiency of the subsequent search for the paper record.
Intercept alerts
| 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | |
| Intercept alerts triggered | 185 | 136 | 56 | 43 | 214 |
| People intercepted[2] | 144 | 109 | 51 | ||
| On departure | 51 | 40 | 11 | 15 | 91 |
| On arrival | 119 | 87 | 42 | 24 | 123 |
| Incorrect intercepts | 19 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
| Fines had already been paid | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Wrong person identified by the match | 18 | 22 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Interception not completed | 117 | 68 | 1 | 12 | 128 |
| People intercepted | 144 | 109 | 51 | 28 | 69 |
| Fines received | $3,168 | $15,342 | $4,648 | $7,876 | $15,193 |
| Reparation received | $10,803 | $14,748 | $24,596 | $29,245 | $35,103 |
| Amount under a current time-to-pay arrangement |
$134,358 | $82,632 | $108,207 | $82,383 | $270,926 |
| Remittals/Alternative sentence imposed | $17,641 | $5,282 | $11,711 | $4,156 | $6,757 |
As at 17 August 2023, there were 4,324 fines defaulters who had interception alerts recorded against their names in Customs records.
Due to the low number of travellers during the period of January-June 2020, an issue with the way the intercept alert data is compared with the Justice data was identified. Due to incomplete information in the intercept alert data, the monetary amounts were being under reported. Justice are currently investigating how the entry of intercept alert data can be improved in order to avoid under-reporting in the future.
Silent alerts were discontinued in 2016/17 because of the inefficiency of the subsequent search for the paper record.
The programme was previously authorised by section 280D of the Customs and Excise Act 1996.
The utility of this provision was assessed the reports Immigration and Justice Matches (September 2012), Review of statutory authorities for information matching (September 2017). Report by the Privacy Commissioner to the Minister of Justice in relation to a review of the operation of five information matching provisions (September 2022).
[1] The number of alerts on arrival or departure will not necessarily equal the total number of people intercepted as a person can trigger multiple alerts in a given period.
